Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement after participating in an interview with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson without approval from prison authorities.
A U.S. Bureau of Prisons representative confirmed to The New York Times on March 7 that the interview had not been authorized.
The interview, which was released on Carlson’s YouTube channel on March 6, quickly gained traction, amassing over 730,000 views. During the discussion, Bankman-Fried spoke about his experience in prison and weighed in on cryptocurrency regulation in the U.S. He also maintained that he does not view himself as “a criminal.”
Prison regulations strictly control inmate communications, dictating who can contact them and through what means.
Crypto prediction platform Polymarket noted on X that odds of an SBF pardon “nearly doubled” after the interview’s release.
Following the interview, speculation about a possible Trump pardon intensified.
Although Carlson did not explicitly ask Bankman-Fried if he expected a pardon from former President Donald Trump, the FTX founder appeared open to certain Republican viewpoints.
The FTX co-founder, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), faced “serious challenges” during the court proceedings, the doctors said.
As reported, a group of doctors submitted an amicus brief in support of Sam Bankman-Fried’s appeal, claiming that his criminal trial may have been significantly affected by his neurodivergence disorders.
The amicus brief also coincided with another filing by a group of bankruptcy law professors who expressed concerns about the intersection of FTX’s bankruptcy case and Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial.
They pointed out that the assistance provided by the FTX bankruptcy estate to the prosecutors was “extraordinary compared to previous cases” such as Enron and WorldCom in the early 2000s.
The brief, signed by eight doctors specializing in neurodivergence, highlighted that several rulings during the trial were detrimental to Bankman-Fried due to his conditions.